How many of you are dreading of having the "talk "with your parents at some point in the near future? You know the one where you address life and death issues? Perhaps they have started to look around for solutions for situations yet unimagined. Where do you start? Who do you talk to?

I have been talking about those situations for years now. We've tried to make sense of the choices that are out there, but there is still more work to be done. Over the next few blog entries we'll address some of those issue and more. For your benefit, we have an archive where you can go back and confirm ideas from previous blog posts.

To be clear, I have been closely tied to this field now for the last 18 years. I work in what has been called a Continuing Care Retirement Community, or CCRC. Lately, after much debate, the official name has now been changed to Life Plan Communities. After much research and visiting LPC's in the U.S., as well as overseas, I admit that I am biased towards them.

There are a lot of factors to consider before your parents can comfortably settle into a retirement community (I won't use the often misused term "facility" – jails are facilities, Costco warehouses might be considered facilities, but where our parents will live are not facilities!)

· What are their financial situations?· Do they need or will they need specialized care?· Where will they live?· Where are you located and where is their social network?